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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

Hagueneck Castle, located in Wettolsheim in the Upper Rhine (Great East), is an Alsatian historic monument located in a valley surrounded by Vosges foothills. Its position, dominated by the neighbouring castles of Hohlandsbourg and Haut-Eguisheim, limits its visibility to the Colmar plain and the Kaiserstuhl. This unfavourable location, compared to the perched fortresses surrounding it, may reflect strategic choices or topographic constraints peculiar to its construction period, between the 12th and 13th centuries.

The first written mention of the Hagueneck dates back to 1263, with Burcart von Hagenecke, a member of a family probably linked to the lords of Wettolsheim, who had held the village since the 13th century. This line declined from the 14th century: in 1300 the castle was sold, probably to the lords of Laubgasse. A conflict broke out with the families of Haus and Hattstatt, leading to his assault and fire in 1304. These tensions illustrate local feudal rivalries for the control of lands and strategic axes in medieval Alsace.

In the 15th century, the Hagueneck became a fragmented condominium. Ulrich Stör, one of the owners, kept a chestnut there until his expulsion by the lord of Rust, another co-owner. A trial in 1482 and archaeological traces suggest a gradual abandonment of the site, confirmed by its mention as ruin in 1640. The castle underwent restorations in 1884, 1932, and 1972, preserving its castral nucleus composed of a full dungeon and a house girdled with a quadrangular enclosure. Rouffach's materials, granite and yellow sandstone, as well as cutting techniques (cushion bushings), demonstrate regional expertise.

The donjon, a 7-metre square tower, has an architectural characteristic: its almost complete filling, with an original access by a wooden gallery connected to the western enclosure, replaced later by a modern staircase. The curved windows and the house murderers reveal a duality between residential and defensive functions. Ranked a Historic Monument in 1923, the site now belongs to the municipality of Wetettolsheim, marking the Alsatian landscape as a vestige of seigneurial struggles and the evolution of castral techniques between the Middle Ages and the modern era.

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